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Outlook Web App User Interface Customization

This section contains reference information about the UIExtensions.xml file that is stored in the forms folder. Use this file to modify the user interface for Outlook Web App in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. By changing this file, you can do the following:

  • Add items to the New drop-down menu.

  • Add items to the right-click (context) menu.

  • Add items to the Outlook Web App navigation pane.

  • Specify icons to be used when custom content items are displayed in the message list.

For information about how to create and deploy the UIExtensions.xml file, see Working with Outlook Web App Customization.

Adding Items to the New Drop-Down Menu

The New drop-down menu in Outlook Web App includes entries from the standard configuration and correctly specified entries from the NewItemMenuEntries XML element. The following example shows an XML fragment that adds a New menu item for the content class "IPM.MyCustomClass."

Code

<NewItemMenuEntries>
    <NewItemMenuEntry 
            ItemType="IPM.MyCustomClass" 
            icon="MyCustomClassNewIcon.gif">
        <string language="en-us" text="Custom Item"/>
    </NewItemMenuEntry>
</NewItemMenuEntries>

Adding Items to the Context Menu

The right-click (context) menu in Outlook Web App includes entries from the standard configuration and correctly specified entries from the RightClickMenuExtensions XML element. The following example shows an XML fragment that adds a menu item for the content class "IPM.MyCustomClass."

Code

<RightClickMenuExtensions>
    <RightClickMenuEntry 
            icon="MyCustomClassNewIcon.gif"
            URL=”https://server/application.aspx”
            filter=”IPM.MyCustomClass”>
        <string language="en-us" text="Custom Right-Click Item"/>
    </RightClickMenuEntry>
</RightClickMenuExtensions>

Adding Items to the Outlook Web App Navigation Bar

The navigation pane in Outlook Web App includes entries from the standard configuration and correctly specified entries from the MainNavigationBarExtensions XML element. The following example shows an XML fragment that adds a navigation pane item for the application named "NewApplication."

Code

<MainNavigationBarExtensions>
    <MainNavigationBarEntry
            LargeIcon="NewApplicationIconLarge.gif"
            SmallIcon="NewApplicationIconSmall.gif"
            URL="https://server/newapplication.aspx">
        <string language="en-us" text="New Application"/>
    </MainNavigationBarEntry>
</MainNavigationBarExtensions>

Specifying Icons for Custom Content Items

The registry.xml file specifies the custom forms that are used for custom content types. Custom icons for those content types can be registered by creating a correctly formatted entry in the SmallIconMappings XML element of the UIExtensions.xml file. When Outlook Web App displays one of those custom content types in the message list window, it uses the mapped icon. The following example shows an XML fragment that specifies a custom icon for items of the IPM.MyCustomClass content class.

Code

<SmallIconMappings>
    <Mapping ItemClass="IMP.MyCustomClass" 
        SmallIcon="MyCustomClassIconSmall"
        IconFlag="Default"
        PrefixMatch="false"/>
</SmallIconMappings>

Localizing Text for Custom Navigation Bar and New Menu Items

The New drop-down menu, right-click (context) menu, and navigation pane items include tool-tip style pop-up windows to help new users learn about the items. To support multiple languages, the XML file entries support multiple <string> elements. Include a separate <string> element for each language that specifies the language-subculture string in the language attribute.

Because the localized text string values are stored in XML attributes, those strings must comply with the requirements of XML attributes. They cannot contain quotation marks, angle-brackets, or text entities.